CCTV shows the moment a paranoid schizophrenic who killed a university worker and stabbed seven others going on a "murderous" knife rampage.
Zephaniah McLeod, 28, was allowed to walk free from prison unsupervised before going on a 90-minute stabbing spree across Birmingham.
A court heard he told onlookers "watch this" as he plunged a blade into the chests, necks and faces of people enjoying a night out in the city on September 6 last year.
Sheffield Hallam University graduate trainee Jacob Billington, 23, was killed after McLeod stabbed him in neck as he walked back to his hotel with friends.
Musician Jacob, from Crosby, Merseyside, was visiting pals when he was knifed alongside pal Michael Callaghan, 23, who was also seriously injured.
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newsletter
McLeod continued to bring terror to the city centre by brutally attacking five other people while he "smirked" and "remaining calm" as he picked off people at random.
He had previously expressed to doctors "dark and sinister thoughts about killing" and heard voices in his head saying: "Kill 'em, stab 'em".
Despite this, he was released from prison into the community with no support just months before he committed the atrocious attacks.
Jacob's parents have since spoke of their anger that such a dangerous offender was allowed to roam the streets before their son came "face-to-face with evil."
McLeod pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, four counts of attempted murder and three counts of wounding in June this year.
Today he was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 21 years at Birmingham Crown Court and made subject of a section 45 hospital order.
Sentencing, Judge Edward Pepperall said: "Just after midnight on September 6, 2020 you were wandering the streets of Birmingham intent on killing one or more persons.
"Over the course of the next 20 minutes you stabbed your first three victims.
"After disposing of your knife, you soon decided to obtain another one, you asked a restaurant to lend you a knife on the pretence that you needed to cut something and when staff refused, you took a taxi home.
"You went straight back into Birmingham city centre with the sole purpose of obtaining a second knife.
"Having rearmed yourself you stabbed another five victims over the course of ten minutes.
"Your victims were variously enjoying nights out or returning from work, they gave you no offence, and they were chosen at random.
"On a number of occasions, you asked for a cigarette or light in an apparent pretence to get close to a potential victim before striking.
"You used significant force as you stabbed your victims. Wherever possible you aimed your knives at victim necks.
"Over the course of your murderous rampage you killed one man, left another woman fighting for their lives and wounded five others.
"They they were your direct victims but your actions had a profound effect on dozens of lives."
After he was caged, police released harrowing CCTV footage of each attack showing McLeod attacking strangers as stalked the city looking for victims.
He can be seen in shocking video viciously lunging at Migle Dolobauskaite with the blade while she was sat looking at her phone near Snow Hill station.
McLeod then dumped the knife down a drain before getting a taxi back to his home in Selly Oak and rearming himself with another knife to continue his spree.
He then encountered Jacob and Michael on Irving Street and approached them asking for a lighter before savagely stabbing them both.
The footage shows the group of pals running for their lives after McLeod stabbed both men in the neck.
Jacob was pronounced dead despite the efforts of paramedics having been stabbed in the chest and neck, with the knife entering the back and exiting through the upper chest.
Medical engineer Michael was left in a coma and almost died as a result of a stab wound on the right side of neck and spent six months in hospital.
In a devastating victim impact statement Michael said: "Sometimes I wished he'd killed me."
Further CCTV shows him attacking another victim Ryan Bowers on Hurst Street in the city's Gay Quarter swiping out with the blade in a swinging motion.
The final two attacks were also captured on camera and show Ryan Bowers being stabbed in the jaw and Shane Rowley being knifed six times in the stomach before McLeod walked away smirking.
Shane described how a "dark figure approaching her" before she was left in a critical condition fighting for her life.
Jordan Davis, a witness to the attack, said in a statement: "He walked towards me and did not look right.
"There was no emotion. He was smirking. He made us feel on edge, he then said 'watch this' and he was smirking to himself."
Following the string of stabbings, police launched a manhunt and tracked McLeod to his home address at 4am the following day.
Body-cam footage captured firearms officers detaining him at gunpoint after smashing down his front door.
With red dots trained on his chest, officers scream: "Come down to us Zephaniah, keep your hands where we can see them. Stand still, turn around."
West Midlands Police also released distressing 999 calls made my members of the public who witnessed the horror unfold.
One door supervisor says: "A young lady has been stabbed. She's on the floor. He's ran off, is she alright? Is she still breathing?
"I've just found out someone else has been stabbed now. He has been stabbed in the neck."
The first victim of the rampage was Dimitar Bachvarov, who called 999 to say: "One guy has tried to stab me in the street and he has stabbed me in the neck.
"Yes I'm bleeding a little but, just because I moved in the last moment. He tried to stab me with a big knife in the neck."
McLeod had asked for Mr Bachvarov, for a cigarette before the stabbing and told him "you're going to have a wound now" before "calmly" walking away.
Another frantic witness called for an ambulance shouting: "Someone has been stabbed.
"He is breathing now but we're pressing on the wound. He's losing a lot of blood from the neck."
When asked what happened, the witness says: "One minute he was walking and then there was blood everywhere."
Another caller tells operators: "They just stabbed him in the neck in town, on Hurst Street. Out of nothing, he just stabbed them up."
The final caller just repeatedly says "send an ambulance, send an ambulance, send an ambulance" as a woman can be heard screaming in the background.
The two-sentencing hearing was told how McLeod confessed to doctors he heard "distressing" voices in his head just days before the attack but had missed a psychiatric assessment appointment.
In heartbreaking victim impact statements Jacob's family questioned how McLeod was allowed to roam the streets of Birmingham unsupervised.
Mum Joanne said: "I want to know why this happened, when Jacob was just walking down the street.
"I will never have my son back. My heart is completely broken.
"I am haunted about how he died, how terrified he must have been. This tortures me every time I close my eyes.
"Many agencies in this case knew what a danger this man posed.
"My son bled to death at the hands of someone well-known to many agencies"
Dad Keith added: "When his friends encountered McLeod, they came face-to-face with evil.
"McLeod isn't the victim, my son is.
"McLeod brought terror to Birmingham, but apparently he's not a terrorist?
"He is clearly one of the most dangerous men to walk this city and I hope this court gives him a very long sentence.
"I had to tell my dad, Jacob grandfather, that Jacob had died. My dad died six weeks later."
Keith then turned to McLeod and angrily said: "That knife you stuck into Jacob, you stuck into my dad too."
Jacob's sister Abbie added: "How has a man in a mental health crisis been allowed to go round the streets with a weapon?
"How has this been allowed to happen unsupervised?"
The court heard how McLeod would refuse to take his medication for his schizophrenia, because 'he was afraid of side-affects of the prescription drugs.’
He would also refuse meeting with psychiatrists both in prison and upon release, had a string of previous convictions and was a frequent user of cannabis.
McLeod admitted attempted murder against Migle Dolobauskaite, Thomas Glassey, Michael Callaghan and Shane Rowley.
He admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Dimitar Bachvarov, Ryan Bowers and Rhys Cummings.
